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A word with director Emily Scott Banks about the test of time

Q: Stupid F*cking Bird is a contemporary and irreverent riff on Chekhov’s The Seagull - it takes the classic Russian comedy and turns it inside out, bringing it into the modern day. What do you think it is about this story that has stood the test of time and has inspired this provocative, bold new “sort-of” adaptation?

A: Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull has been translated into every major language, and been adapted over 20 times for theatre, film, ballet and opera; yet plot-wise, seemingly little actually happens. The central focus of the work is the prominence of feelings, which in their truthful intensity become the action. Tension between the older and younger generations becomes a metaphor for the war between established and emerging art, vibrancy and death, fame and obscurity. Big stuff, sounds like a possible snooze - and yet the play, both in the original and especially in Aaron Posner’s scatological yet ultimately respectful version, is terribly, darkly funny. Mordant and somehow optimistic, this story has delighted audiences and theater-makers for over 130 years and shows no signs of slowing down.